A large number of medical procedures require the use of medical device(s) to remove an obstruction from a body lumen, vessel, or other organ. An inherent risk in such procedures is that mobilizing or otherwise disturbing the obstruction can potentially create further harm if the obstruction or a fragment thereof dislodges from the retrieval device. If a particle or the obstruction breaks free from the device and flows downstream, it is highly likely that the particle or obstruction will become trapped in smaller and more tortuous anatomy. In many cases, the physician will no longer be able to use the same retrieval device to again remove the obstruction because the size of the device may prevent advancing the device to the site of the new obstruction.
Even in successful procedures, a physician must proceed with caution to prevent the walls of the vessel or body lumen from imparting undesired forces to shear or dislodge the obstruction as it is translated through the body during removal. These forces have the potential of breaking portions or fragments of the obstruction away. In some cases, the obstruction can simply break free from the retrieval device and can lodge in a new area causing more concern than the original blockage.
Procedures for restoring flow within the cerebral vasculature as a result of ischemic stroke are one example of where these issues present a concern. The brain relies on its arteries and veins to supply oxygenated blood from the heart and lungs and to remove carbon dioxide and cellular waste from brain tissue. Blockages that interfere with this supply eventually cause the brain tissue to stop functioning. If the disruption in supply occurs for a sufficient amount of time, the continued lack of nutrients and oxygen causes irreversible cell death (infarction). Accordingly, immediate medical treatment of an ischemic stroke is critical for the recovery of a patient. To access the cerebral vasculature, a physician typically advances a catheter from a remote part of the body (typically a leg) through the vasculature and into the cerebral region of the vasculature. Once within the cerebral region, the physician deploys a device for retrieval of the obstruction causing the blockage. Concerns about dislodged obstructions or the migration of dislodged fragments increases the duration of the procedure at time when restoration of blood flow is paramount. Furthermore, a physician might be unaware of one or more fragments that dislodge from the initial obstruction and cause blockage of smaller more distal vessels.
Many physicians currently use stents to perform thrombectomy (i.e. clot removal) to resolve ischemic stroke. Typically, the physician deploys the stent into the clot in an attempt to push the clot to the side of the vessel and re-establish blood to flow. Tissue plasminogen activator (“tPA”) is often injected into the bloodstream through an intravenous line. The tPA must travel in the blood stream until it reaches the clot that is causing the blockage. Once the tPA contacts the clot, it begins to break up the clot with the hope of restoring blood flow to the affected areas. tPA is also often administered to supplement the effectiveness of the stent. Yet, if attempts at clot dissolution are ineffective or incomplete, the physician can attempt to remove the stent while it is expanded against or enmeshed within the clot. In doing so, the physician must effectively drag the clot from the vessel, in a proximal direction, into a guide catheter located within vessels in the patients neck (typically the carotid artery). While this procedure has been shown to be effective in the clinic and easy for the physician to perform, there remain some distinct disadvantages using this approach.
For example, one disadvantage is that the stent may not sufficiently hold onto the clot as it drags the clot to the catheter. In such a case, some or all of the clot might remain the vasculature. Another risk is that use of the stent might mobilize the clot from the original blockage site, but the clot might not adhere to the stent during translation toward the catheter. This is a particular risk when translating through bifurcations and tortuous anatomy. Furthermore, blood flow can migrate the clot (or fragments of the clot) into a branching vessel at a bifurcation. If the clot is successfully brought to the end of the guide catheter in the carotid artery, yet another risk is that the clot may be “stripped” or “sheared” from the stent as the stent enters the guide catheter. Regardless, simply dragging an expanded stent (either fully or partially expanded) can result in undesired trauma to the vessel. In most cases, since the stent is oversized compared to the vessel, dragging a fixed metallic (or other) structure can pull the arteries and/or strip the cellular lining from the vessel, causing further trauma such as a hemorrhagic stroke (leakage of blood from a cerebral vessel). Also, the stent can become lodged on plaque on the vessel walls resulting in further vascular damage.
In view of the above, there remains a need for improved devices and methods that can remove occlusions from body lumens and/or vessels. While the discussion focuses on applications in the cerebral vasculature, the improved devices and methods described below have applications outside of the area of ischemic stroke.